Emily* grew up listening to a lot of yelling in her family, mainly due to her brother’s gambling addiction. Even though Emily’s family loved each other, she could sense the division among them.

After immigrating from Asia to the US with her parents, Emily developed severe depression and ended up moving to the Midwest for college to leave the chaos behind. Instead, her depression worsened. Three new friends from IFI began to help Emily. Seeing the kindness, happiness, and optimism that they had in Christ made Emily “hopeful that maybe one day I would also find my way to Him.”

This winter, Emily visited her brother, thinking he had been clean from gambling for years. Instead, she found that he had relapsed. “I turned to God for guidance for the first time ever.” After praying, a detailed plan of how to help her brother battle his addiction and break the news to her parents revealed itself to her. “If I were anything like the old me, I would have crumbled, hid in my little corner, and wouldn’t have known what to do at all.”

“I turned to God for guidance for the first time ever.” -Emily

Soon after, God gave Emily the courage to speak to her father about her experience with Christ, leading them both to start following Jesus. A few weeks later, Emily’s brother and mother started following Jesus as well.

Emily was recently baptized by her IFI friends and shares, “Now, I wake up every day feeling joyful about my life.” Her relationship with Christ has changed her mind, heart, and attitude completely. “Decades of trauma and chaos were completely turned around after we accepted Christ as Savior.” Now, her family is on the track to healing.

*Name and photo changed